A Dog and His Girl
by Ruya Firtina
Summary: Jareth accidentally turns himself into a dog, losing his magical powers in the process. He and Sarah embark on a thirteen day journey across the land to seek the one who has the power to return him to his normal form. As they travel together, Sarah comes to see Jareth as more than a villain.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: HI EVERYBODY! This is sort of a sequel to Bathtime, though it obviously does not follow immediately afterwards, and you don't have to read that one at all in order to read this one. Also, I wanted to thank Leia1 for the awesome illustration she made for Bathtime. I feel honoured that somebody saw fit to draw a picture of something that I've written. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Labyrinth or its characters.**

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It is the hope of parents everywhere that if an order or a piece of advice is repeated every day, every month, of every year to their offspring, that that nugget of wisdom will someday be internalized. Sarah's parents were no different. While Karen was more typically the one to spew continuous obvious instruction ("_When you do the laundry always use *this* much detergent. See, LOOK. *This* much." "God, Karen. I KNOW how to do laundry!"_) Sarah's father had his own sage points that he liked to share. Over the course of twenty-four years of exasperatingly repetitive counsel from her father, at least one habit had finally stuck through: _Make sure to pack a lunch for tomorrow. _

So, after years of conditioning, Sarah diligently constructed her next day's meal: slathering mustard on a slice of wheat bread, slicing her tomato, getting out the cheese, the leftover chicken, spreading mayonnaise generously on the other slice of bread. Once the sandwich was complete, she turned from her sink towards her pantry, nearly tripping over the dwarf that stood right behind her.

"Aghh! JESUS, Hoggle! A person could get a heart attack from being snuck up on like that!" Sarah placed her hand to her heart, which thumped with the spike of adrenaline.

Hoggle twisted his hands abashedly. "I'm sorry, Sarah! I didn't mean to scare you, honest. I've come on urgent business. You gotta come back with me right away."

"What's going on? And how long will it take? Hoggle, I have class to teach tomorrow."

"Something's gone wrong with Jareth. He's…in a bad state. You'd better come check it out. He had shut himself up in his laboratory in the West Tower working on a new spell or somethin', and we just found him today."

"Wait—he isn't being moody about me punching him in the nose last time, is he? Because he totally had that coming." Sarah crossed her arms defensively. Who chased people in towels around anyways? _Perverts._

"No, uh—nothin' like that. This has nothing to do with you, I don' think. Just come with me."

"Okay, fine. Let me put away my sandwich first."

* * *

"You incompetent _fools_! How is it that not one of you has the capacity to write? Shallower than glasses of water, the lot of you!" raged Jareth's voice, somewhat muffled behind the heavy door at the top of the tower.

The yelling from behind the door cut off and was replaced with a series of sharp barks and growls. Sarah and Hoggle jumped slightly at a loud crash of metal, and Sarah paused with her hand on the doorknob. "You idiot!" came Jareth's cry. "Unhand my person!"

Sarah burst into the room abruptly at those words. She found herself in a sort of laboratory at the top of the tower, its workbenches filled with strange contraptions, jars filled with what appeared to be different colours of smoke lining the walls. Jareth was nowhere in sight, but the source of the barking was made obvious in the form of a huge, shaggy, grey dog, growling and shaking a goblin by the scruff of its neck. The goblin gibbered madly, struggling in the jaws of the enormous dog. Another armoured goblin dizzily picked itself up from the wreckage of one of the benches, copper instruments twisted and bent around it. Two more goblins were cautiously backing away from the hound.

"Hey!" Sarah yelled at the dog. "Put him down!"

The dog dropped the goblin to the floor, baring its teeth in a growl as the goblin scuttled away, picking up its horned helmet from where it had fallen on the floor. It turned towards her, straightening up to its full height. _Jeezus—the thing looks over three feet tall._ From across the room its eyes met hers with an intensity that was foreign to Sarah in such an animal, not the soulful, brown eyes of her now deceased Merlin. She could have sworn that one of the eyes flashed blue.

"Ah, Sarah. How fortunate for you to have arrived," spoke the dog in cool British tones.

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**A/N: Now that I am done writing my personal statement (blegh) I am putting my writing efforts into more fun endeavors-namely science-y spoofs of pop songs and Labyrinth fanfic. I have also been playing a lot of Skyrim. I got the idea for this story when I was playing Skyrim, actually, when I was playing the talking dog quest. That quest was a lot of fun for me, so I decided to send Sarah on a quest with a talking dog of her own.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thanks for the initial reviews! The feedback means a lot to me!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Labyrinth or its characters.**

* * *

A dog that spoke in a British accent shouldn't really be that surprising in a land of talking worms, foxes, beasts, and even door knockers. But a dog speaking in Jareth's voice, on the other hand…

"Jareth?" asked Sarah, moving forward towards the large animal. She decided to get right to the point. "Why are you a dog?" _And such a shaggy, large grey dog? It doesn't seem to fit with your sense of style, exactly._

Jareth kept his ground, and as she drew closer she could see that the dog's eyes were indeed mismatched brown and blue. At her words his ears straightened up, eyes narrowing and spine stiffening. "I am a wolf, thank you very much."

Sarah took in the floppy ears, the heavy-boned build, and the shorter snout. "Wolf. Rigghhht. Have you looked in the mirror yet? More like Wolf_hound_." Sarah folded her arms and stared down at the dog. "Now would you mind letting me know what is going on, _Your Majesty? _Some of us have places to be in the morning."

"Right—teaching children, if I recall. I believe I had proposed an alternative: Simply wish them away to me and allow me to turn the lot of them into goblins."

"As much I sometimes consider your suggestion, I restrain myself. Besides, at the moment you don't look to be in any condition to turn anybody into anything. I repeat: Why are you a talking dog? I'm going right back home unless you tell me what happened."

Jareth's ears tilted back, flattening against his head. He mumbled something indistinctly.

"What was that?"

"I said: I made a technical error."

"Oh really? And may I ask what you were trying to accomplish?" Sarah raised her eyebrows.

Jareth sighed, avoiding eye contact. "If you must know, I was experimenting with the dreams of wolves, attempting to develop a new form for myself."

Sarah's eyes turned steely. "And I don't suppose that you had done this before, have you?"

"Well, no, but I—"

"You _idiot_!" She stormed up to the Jareth, stooping down and grabbing his furry chin, forcing him to make eye contact with her. "You don't just experiment on yourself without telling anyone first! Something could have gone extremely seriously wrong!"

Jareth jerked his head away from her hands, hackles raising up on his neck. "I knew what I was doing," he snarled.

"Oh, _obviously _you did. And may I ask, what would your goblins do without you? Don't you understand how much they need you, how lost they would be without you?"

"Cease with your chastisements, woman!" growled the King. "I accept that I made a _mistake_ in judgement already! Now fulfill your oath as Champion and bloody help me! _Please!_"

Satisfied that he understand the error of his ways, Sarah acquiesced. "Well, since you asked so nicely: what may I do for you, _my lord?_" She even graciously offered him a partial curtsy, dressed in jeans as she was.

"Don't patronize me, Sarah. And for starters you can take down a letter that I shall dictate to you."

Sarah blinked. "A letter? A letter to who?"

"To my mother."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I just gotta say: These letters were so much fun to write. I borrowed the first part of Jareth's letter heavily from a 15th century letter from Elizabeth Poynings to her mother Agnes. **

**Disclaimer: I own neither the Labyrinth nor its inhabitants.**

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From the desk of Jareth, King of the Goblins, Ruler of the Labyrinth to Lady Emine of Elazig

To my right worshipful mother Lady Emine,

Right worshipful and my most entirely beloved mother, I am ever-more desiring to hear of your welfare and prosperity, which I hope to continue and increase to your heart's desire and beyond; and if it liked your good motherhood to hear of me and how I do, at the making of this letter I was in good health of body, it is true, in most good health.

Recently I have made a great and marvelous discovery in my continuing studies of magecraft and sorcery, and in my capacity as King of the Goblins, I hereby extend an invitation of welcome to the esteemed Master of Sorcery, Lady Emine of Elazig, to come to my kingdom in order to lend her inestimable and boundless wisdom. With great speed I bid you to come, most beloved mother, for all the colours of the world are dimmed to my eyes when you are not here.

Your humble son,

Jareth

* * *

To my dutiful son Jareth,

My son, it pleases me that you think of your poor old mother once every century or so. Truly it warms my heart the way that you call on me in your hour of need yet disregard my yearly entreaties to spend but a few days here with me at my home in Elazig. I cannot wait to hear what "marvelous discovery" you have wrought this time, especially one that forces you to rely on another for penning a letter to your own mother, bless your heart. I praise your resourcefulness in finding one with the capacity for the written word in your Great and Glorious kingdom.

I must humbly decline your gracious offer of invitation to your realm, but instead re-extend to you my yearly invitation to you (surely my earlier letter to you was waylaid somehow on its journey, for you never did respond). Surely you understand that in my elder years I no longer have the activity and vigor of youth such as yourself, and instead prefer to keep close to my own abode as much as I can.

I look forward to seeing you, my most loving and attentive son. I bid you a safe journey on your way to see me. Make sure to pack extra socks (if you still have feet).

All my affection,

Mother

* * *

"I told you you were laying it on a bit thick."

Jareth only grunted in response to Sarah, baring his teeth at the offending parchment.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I own neither the Labyrinth nor its inhabitants.**

* * *

"So what happens now?"

"We set out for Elazig."

"We?" Sarah raised an eyebrow incredulously, folding her arms over her chest.

"You shall accompany me."

"I think not! I have a job! The state assessment exams are in less than a month! Can't you take Hoggle or Sir Didymus or someone?"

Jareth sneered, baring pointed teeth. "And what, have the delusional knight ride me all the way? I think not! And the dwarf? He's in self-imposed exile to the Labyrinth on account of general distaste with everyone, everywhere. I hardly think that he would jump at accompanying me through the intervening lands, not that I would want him to anyways. The goblins are completely out of the picture, not that I want this to be some sort of parade. Part of my duty as King is to ensure that no Goblin sets foot in the Underground outside of the Labyrinth, for the sake of all surrounding kingdoms. No, you are the only one who could be a halfway decent traveling companion."

Sarah was unimpressed. "As flattered as I am to be called _halfway decent_, Your Majesty, I am not inclined to accompany you anywhere." She pressed her index finger to his wet, black nose. He blinked, twitching his ears back. "You're going to have get used to this body for at least another month. I don't have time to go on what sounds like an extended trip."

Jareth stepped towards her, nails clicking on the stone floor of the room under his padded feet. "You have the time and you must. This is a matter of some urgency! Not only is it...distressing...to be cut off from my powers for so long, but without my governing the Labyrinth and keeping the goblins in check, they will eventually find their way outside of its walls."

"So?"

"It would mean a violation of border agreements—It could mean war! Or at least significant repercussions for me."

"Good. You deserve some punishment for your idiocy."

"You think this is not punishment enough!?" Jareth snapped, his mis-matched gaze flashing, tail standing straight out with its fur bristled. "I will journey to the city on my own, without _you_, insufferable wench!" He stalked out of the room, nose held high.

"Don't forget to bring some of that dog food that I brought for you!" Sarah called blithely after his retreating gray back.


End file.
